Cal Davis Women, Cal State Bakersfield Men Top PCSC Championships

BELMONT SHORES, CA., Feb. 25. U Cal Davis froshwoman Yuka Kobayashi splashed to an impressive double in the 200 yard backstroke and butterfly on the final evening of competition last Saturday, leading the Aggies to the women's championship at the Pacific Coast Swimming Conference (PCSC)title meet.

It was the Davis women's first-ever PCSC Championship as they scored 1293 points to win. The Aggies had never finished higher than fourth prior to this year but Kobayashi's three wins helped them over the top. The Aggies' arch-rival, U Cal San Diego's Tritons, scored 1184.5 points for second.

The Aggies' runner-up status marked the second-consecutive season they've wound up No. 2 to perennial powerhouse Bakersfield and the seventh-consecutive year in which they're finished no lower than fourth.

University of San Diego was third on the women's side while U Cal San Diego was third among the men.

Kobayashi splashed to the 100 backstroke title Friday night in a PCSC and UCD-record 55.90, becoming just the second Aggie in program history to win an individual swimming title. She also added those two more titles Saturday, lowering her school records in each.

Kobayashi must feel quite at home in Belmont's waters. Her 200 backstroke win (2:01.92) bettered her previous best of 2:05.86 by nearly four seconds — and this latter swim was also swum here last December at the U Cal Irvine's Speedo Cup meet.

She then came back to win the 200 butterfly in 2:00.98, well under the previous school record of 2:05.20 she swam at the Speedo Cup. Karen Pollock — the only other Aggie before this year to win a PCSC swim title — also won the 200 butterfly, doing so in 1993.

Both of Kobayashi's times Saturday significantly improved her automatic qualifying marks for next month's NCAA Division II Championships in Grand Forks, ND, and will likely have her seeded No. 1 in all three races. They're also PCSC records, giving her three for the weekend's efforts.

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San Diego's Eryn Bowman — third in the 500 free — got the Torereos on the board in the meet's first event of the final night, the 1650 free, with a 17:11.88-17:18.44 win over Cal Baptist's Lindsay Devaney.

In the men's mile, Bakersfield's Vlasta Burda, defending NCAA 500-1000-1650 champ [the 1000 is part of the DII Championship program] won in a meet-record 15:29.12. Aggie Matt Davie was next (15:51.52).

Koyayashi was pushed in the 200 back by UCSD's Jennifer Watanabe, who went a solid 2:02.58 for runner-up.

The men's 200 back saw Cal Baptist's Felix Sutanto, a former California Community College Swimmer of the Year at Golden West, win his third gold with a pr and meet-record 1:46.84. He also won the 100 back in a pr and meet-standard 48.56 and took the 200 IM opening night.

Bakersfield ruled the 100 free with Marylie Giguere champ on the women's side (51.52) and teammate Travis Lansing king of the men's sprint (45.27).

The women's 200 breast saw UCSD's Rosana DeLurgio, winner of the 100 breast in a pr and PCSC-record 1:02.92, win with another record-breaking performance (2:15.92). USD's Ashley Swart went a pr and Torero-record 2:16.53 for second. Swart also collected a pair of golds in the individual medleys.

(USD is a DI school and Swart's provisional qualifying times in her three races give her shot at making it into "The Big Dance," i.e., the NCAA Division 1 women's meet, next month at Auburn.)

In the men's 200 breast, Davis' Eddie Fernandez successfully defended his conference championship, becoming just the fourth Aggie men's swimmer to win at least two PCSC titles. He won in 2:05.18 to UCSD's Rob Small's 2:08.16.

Fernandez is also the first breaststroke champion for UC Davis. His time earned him an "A" cut for the DII NCAAs and boosts him to the No.2 position on the Aggie all-time list.

The 200 fly saw Aggie Kobayashi win in her record-breaking 2:00.98 but she was chased home by San Diego's Carolyn Gorrick (2:01.60). Kobyashi led through the first 100 but Gorrick was only .07 back at the 100 (57.79-57.86) and had the lead at the 150 mark (1:29.24-1:29.37). But a final 50 of 31.61 to Gorrick's 32.36 was the difference.

In the men's 200 fly, Bakersfield's Jacob Fraire won in 1:49.79 to Cal Baptist's Matt Sprankle's 1:50.85.
Sprankle won the 100 fly in 50.22.

San Diego was quickest in the women's 400 free relay (3:28.93) with Bakersfield next (3:31.07). The men's race saw Bakersfield stroke to a 3:04.58 victory.

The NCAA DII Championships is a combined women's and men's meet and runs for four days starting March 12.